Artist

STORMY SIX

1966-68
Maurizio Masla (vocals)
Franco Fabbri (guitar, vocals)
Luca Piscicelli (guitar, vocals)
Fausto Martinetti (keyboards)
Alberto Santagostino (bass)
Antonio Zanuso (drums)

1968-69
Franco Fabbri (guitar, vocals)
Claudio Rocchi (bass, vocals)
Luca Piscicelli (guitar, bass, vocals)
Antonio Zanuso (drums)

1970-72
Rocchi quits, replaced by
Massimo Villa (bass)

1973-76
Franco Fabbri (guitar, vocals)
Umberto Fiori (guitar, vocals)
Carlo De Martini (sax, violin)
Tommaso Leddi (violin, mandolin, balalajka, guitar)
Luca Piscicelli (bass, vocals)
Antonio Zanuso (drums)
+Giorgio Albani (sound engineer)

1976
Zanuso replaced by
Salvatore Garau (drums)

1978
Umberto Fiori (vocals)
Franco Fabbri (guitar, vibraphone, trombone, vocals)
Carlo De Martini (violin)
Tommaso Leddi (violin, mandolin, guitar, alto sax)
Renato Rivolta (soprano sax)
Pino Martini (bass)
Salvatore Garau (drums)
+ Giorgio Albani (sound engineer)

1979-80
De Martini and Rivolta quit, enter:
Leonardo Schiavone (clarinet)
+ Georgie Born (cello) on recordings (Macchina Maccheronica) and selected tours

1981
Schiavone replaced by 
Stefano Barbaglia (clarinet)

1982
Umberto Fiori (vocals)
Franco Fabbri (guitar, synth guitar, vocals)
Tommaso Leddi (keyboards, guitar)
Pino Martini (bass)
Salvatore Garau (drums)
+ Giorgio Albani (sound engineer)

1993 re-union lineup 
Umberto Fiori (vocals)
Franco Fabbri (guitar, synth guitar, vocals)
Carlo De Martini (violin)
Tommaso Leddi (keyboards, violin, balalajka, guitar)
Pino Martini (bass)
Salvatore Garau (drums)
+ Giorgio Albani (sound engineer)

Not many progressive music collectors are aware that Stormy Six released some very interesting and original works in that style, the group having long been associated with the left-wing political and protest songs of their first albums.
Stormy Six began as a beat band in the 60's in Milan, and they even supported the Rolling Stones during their first Italian tour. 
Their first album, named Le idee di oggi per la musica di domani by their record company, is a good example of the genre, with even some light psych influences like in the instrumental Schalplattengesellschaft mbh, bass player Claudio Rocchi being the most interested in psychedelia. He was in fact the first to leave the band to pursue a solo career.

Second album L'unità saw the group reduced to a quartet, with bassist Massimo Villa replacing Rocchi, and keyboardist Martinetti leaving during the recording sessions, though he appeared on some tracks only. The sound was now strongly inspired by the then popular West-Coast style, yet it contained some rock-inspired moments like in the long Suite per F & F with good instrumental parts by Ricky Belloni (then with Il Pacco and later in Nuova Idea) and sax player Claudio Fasoli from Perigeo.

In the third album, Guarda giù dalla pianura, dealing more strongly with protest songs, the Woody Guthrie influence was evident in the cover versions' choice, and the band was now a constant presence in left-wing movements concerts and festivals.

Their 1975 album Un biglietto del tram was the first proper original Stormy Six album, a highly rated album in Italy at the time and with strong political contents. 
Released on the newly born independent label L'Orchestra (in which the band members had a leading role), it was a concept album, based on some events from the last years of World War II in Italy and the Resistance movement against nazis, the album contained an original blend of folk and prog sounds and interesting lyrics. Songs like Stalingrado or Dante Di Nanni (the name of a victim of nazis) have always been in the band's concerts in later years.

In 1976 a revised line-up produced the instrumental Cliché, conceived as a soundtrack for a theatre piece and with help from jazz players Guido Mazzon and Tony Rusconi, and a year later L'apprendista, one of their best works ever. 
A real prog gem, the album had complex rhythm changes in the best tradition of this style (some comparison are possible with Gentle Giant), yet retaining a very original mood, with a perfect use of any kind of instruments and multivocal parts. 

At the end of the 70's the band had prolific collaboration with foreign artists and Stormy Six were one of the five founder members (along with Henry Cow from UK, Univers Zero from Belgium, Etron Fou Leloublan from France and Samla Mammas Manna from Sweden) of the RIO-Rock In Opposition international movement, that gave them the opportunity to play all over Europe.

Next album in 1980, Macchina maccheronica, that also becomes the name of the band in some concerts, a varied album in the best RIO tradition with some very good tracks mixed with odd short songs and crazy rhythms, even a waltz! Last chapter in this long story Al volo, in 1982, still a good album that reveals 80's electropop influences added to the typical Stormy Six sound. 

In 1984 some of the band members also collaborated with German group Cassiber, releasing some recordings together with the name of Cassix on the English Recommended Records label. Cassix line-up included Umberto Fiori (vocals), Franco Fabbri (guitar), Heiner Goebbels (keyboards) Alfred Harth (sax), Pino Martini (bass), Chris Cutler (drums).

Guitarist Franco Fabbri has written many books on music and had long collaborations with various avantgarde music and theatre groups, the others have had many other musical experiences after the band split.
The band reunited in 1993 for a concert that's been released on the nice Un concerto CD.
In the summer 2013 a new line-up of Stormy Six featuring Umberto Fiori, Tommaso Leddi, Salvatore Garau, Carlo de Martini along with Archimede De Martini (bass, violin) and Francesco Zago (guitars) represented a performance entitled Benvenuti nel ghetto, dedicated to the Warsaw ghetto uprising, with original music and the narrating voice of Moni Ovadia. A CD with DVD taken from this show has been issued at the end of the same year.

All the Stormy Six albums are rather common, except for their first three. The albums by L'Orchestra were commonly also sold by bookshops and in political events during the 70's and have been released in large quantities.

The first album Le idee di oggi per la musica di domani, is by far their rarest item; it was chosen to launch the short-lived Ariston "young" subsidiary First; as it was often the case with Ariston, it also came out on the head label at the same time or slightly later. 
Both issues had the same heavy gatefold sleeve with the First logo, some copies also carried a First logo sticker on the back cover.
The album had all the tracks connected, and initially had no separation grooves on the vinyl, according to Franco Fabbri in his Album bianco book (see Books section for details), it was re-released with separated tracks to allow an easier airplay.
The standard edition of the record contains 13 tracks, but a different pressing, with 11 tracks in different order (without Forse and Schalplattengesellschaft mbh) was released in the same cover as the original (see picture below).
The album had its first vinyl reissue in 2021 on the On Sale Music label.

L'unità was first released with a gatefold cover on the First label, early copies came with the old black/silver label, soon replaced by the black/yellow 70's design. The new label also contained the "Produzione Gnomo" writing like the contemporary alternative releases on Ariston. A later issue on the Oxford budget price series had the same cover but was not gatefold.
A track from this album, La manifestazione, was also included in the Al Festival Pop di Viareggio compilation in an different, longer version (it was originally a demo), featuring Eugenio Finardi and Alberto Camerini.

Guarda giù dalla pianura was reissued with the new title Canti della rivoluzione del mondo and new artwork on the budget price Ariston series Super Oscar and Oxford, both still easy to find.

Un biglietto del tram, the first LP on L'Orchestra and probably their bestseller, was reissued many times, following the various changes in distribution that the label had. Originals had the side title in white letters and Ariston distribution credit on back cover.

Macchina maccheronica contained an A5 16-page brown booklet with lyrics and drawings, and some early copies also contained a promotional tour poster. 
It was also sold in Germany (these were Italian imported copies, some had a distributor's sticker on the cover) with a second booklet (black cover - A5 format - 16 pages) with German lyric translation and different drawings plus a b/w picture of the band.

An east German compilation on Amiga label (no. 8 45 175), entitled Alternative was released in 1980, and was credited to the group Macchina Maccheronica.

Among the Stormy Six rarities, a mention is deserved for a rare promotional EP released by PCI (Partito Comunista Italiano, Italian Communist Party) around 1972 and containing an unreleased track by the group, La Birindelleide, dedicated to Admiral Birindelli, who had become at the time a Member of Parliament in the right wing party MSI. Two other songs on the single were credited to Stormy Six but not played by them, and it also included a popular Anna Identici song. A similar single has been released by Equipe 84 for the PSI (Partito Socialista Italiano, Italian Socialist Party) in 1975.

Around 1973 Stormy Six collaborated with Milan's Student Movement for some singles produced by the movement's own label: the first one was a four-track EP with two songs, Dimitrov and Palestina performed by the group (the other songs are I padroni possono perdere la testa and Come Yu Kung rimosse le montagne, cat.no.MS 003), the second was a single credited to Commissione Artistica del Movimento Studentesco Milanese that contains Compagno Franceschi and E se il nemico attacca (contro ogni opportunismo), cat.no.MS 004. A third single credited to Movimento Studentesco Milano contained two songs written by Umberto Fiori, Chi ha ucciso Saltarelli? and Un bel discorso fine e antifascista and Franco Fabbri may have played on it.

No counterfeits nor other foreign issues exist.

Le idee di oggi per la musica di domani - LP and three different labels, First standard (13 tracks), First alternate version (11 tracks in different order), Ariston.
L'unità - LP and label (two different versions)
Guarda giù dalla pianura - LP	Canto della rivoluzione nel mondo (reissue of Guarda giù dalla pianura) - LP
Un biglietto del tram - LP
Cliché - LP
L'apprendista - LP
Macchina maccheronica - LP
Macchina maccheronica - promo poster and booklets
Alternative - East German compliation LP front cover
Al volo - LP
Oggi piango 7" single	Lui verrà 7" single
La luna è stanca 7" single	Alice nel vento 7" single
Rossella 7" single	Sotto il bam-bù 7" single
1789 7" single	Cosa danno 7" single
Un concerto and Megafono live CD's
Stormy Six & Moni Ovadia / Benvenuti nel ghetto - CD+DVD
PCI promo 7" EP
Movimento Studentesco - EP	Movimento Studentesco/Compagno Franceschi - 7" single

Guitarist Franco Fabbri has written a sort of autobiography, Album bianco (see the Books section for details), that offers a very interesting view on the Italian 60's and 70's rock scene.
Fabbri also has an Internet website at www.francofabbri.net, which also contains information on L'Orchestra.

Many thanks to Franco Fabbri for friendly help and plenty of information.

Also thanks to Alessandro Pomponi from Rockground, Fabiano Petrone, Peppe Carrese and Ubaldo Cibei (Franco), Luciano Fassa, Claudio Bellanti for some information and scans in this page.